Falcons

Falcons is an absorbing film, set in Iceland. It debuted at The Cannes Film Festival and it's North American Premiere was at The Toronto International Film Festival.

Simon (Keith Carradine) has been in prison in the USA for a long time. On release, he travels to a small town in Iceland, ostensibly to visit his elderly aunt who is not well. He becomes a close friend of a very free-spirited, charismatic and beautiful young woman, Dúa (Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir). She believes in astrology, loves animals, is naïve, optimistic and not strongly attached to material possessions; he is just the opposite. The local sheriff is very jealous of their relationship, which leads to serious problems that require their escape. The only items that they can escape with are his car and her caged Icelandic Falcon, a rare and valuable bird and a protected species. On their first stop she gives, to charity, the money that they need to escape. He is now determined to sell the falcon to enable them to survive, which is anathema to her. The film has a powerful, bittersweet ending.

The film is predominantly in English but has some subtitles: when Icelandic is spoken. The story is simple and compelling; the acting is excellent and the scenery is beautiful. I was never bored for an instant. This is Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir's third film and the first to be released outside of Europe. She is very lovely and absolutely delightful. I hope that she makes many more films and that they will find their way to North America, where we need some more free spirits that are past the sophomoric stage.